It is that time of year – time to start thinking about Christmas gift-giving. If you are a homesteader, you can make some really great gifts that come right from your homestead and will add an extra special touch to your gift-giving this year. It feels amazing to share from the bounty from your farm in creative ways.
Gifts from the Garden
Seeds – Seeds saved from your own garden are a special way to pass on your love of gardening to others. You can make special seed envelopes and decorate them with rubber stamps or decorative paper to make it extra cute.
Windowsill Herb Garden – you can make an old-farm style windowsill herb garden by using old pallet wood to build a box that holds 3-5 used (and washed out) metal soup cans. Line the box with plastic, so the water from the plants won’t leak out. Hammer or drill 3 holes in the bottom of each can. Add potting soil and plant the herbs with enough time that they can sprout before you gift them. You can use wooden clothespins for plant markers, and you could also add ribbons to the box or cans to dress it up.

Or, you can assemble a “kit” for them of all they need and they can plant the windowsill herb garden themselves.

Dried Herbs – If you harvest and dry your own herbs from your garden you can pass those on to spice up someone’s kitchen. Find tiny jars and add ribbons or chalkboard tag stickers as labels. Assemble them in a small tray or basket.
Gifts from the Coop
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love the gift of farm-fresh eggs. Decorate the carton or wrap the lid in Christmas paper to make it more fun and add a few recipe cards with your favorite egg recipes on them.

Gifts from the Beehive
Honey – Raw honey right from your homestead will be a sweet gift for all. Put it in nice jars and include a wooden honey dipper and consider putting a piece of fresh comb in the jar to give it the straight-from-the-hive look.
Candles and a Candle Holder – Homemade beeswax taper candles are beautiful and smell great. They are also easy to make. Tie three together with a pretty ribbon and tag. Or, if you are handy with wood, include a wood candle holder made from branches cut from your own property.

Gifts from the Woods
Coasters – In addition to the wood candle holder above, if you have woods on your property and you have branches from your pruning and thinning work, you can make really nice coasters. Leave the bark and any lichen and moss for character and apply the finish right over it all to seal it. Add some felt pads to the bottom of each finished coaster to protect the table surface. Tie them together with some twine and add a tag.

Gifts from the Kitchen
Home-Canned Items – If you do any canning then you probably already know that home-canned jellies, jams, butters, and pickles are big hits as gifts. Add Christmas fabric to the top of your jars and special tags to make them festive. Arrange them in a basket or build a little crate for them with pallet wood.
Gifts from Handiwork
If you are a knitter, crocheter, or sewer, there are innumerable items you can make as wonderful gifts.
Kitchen Dishwashing Basket – Put together a kitchen basket that includes crocheted dish scrubbies, knit or crocheted dish cloths, and your favorite dish soap.
Cloth Napkins – Handmade cloth napkins are quick and easy to make with a serger or sewing machine and many people will be surprised by this re-useable alternative to paper napkins. You can roll them up and arrange them in a basket – add a ribbon and tag.
These are just a few ideas. The sky is the limit when it comes to gifts you can give from your homestead. Look around you at what you are producing and then find a way to make it into a great gift that your friends and family with appreciate getting…right from the homestead.
Kat Ludlam has been homesteading in Colorado for 15 years now. She and her husband, Daniel, are the owners of Willow Creek Farm, where they breed specialty wool sheep, milk sheep, chickens, and crops that thrive in their location. They also own and run a custom fiber processing mill, Willow Creek Fiber Mill. Kat loves to feed her family from their land, and teach others to homestead as well.
All MOTHER EARTH NEWS community bloggers have agreed to follow our Blogging Guidelines, and they are responsible for the accuracy of their posts.